Jemma Simmons is a terrible liar (needanewplan) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2016-09-19 21:37:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, jemma simmons, laura kinney (wolverine) |
Who: Jemma and Laura
What: Mandated fun
When: Recently, night
Where: Agency to Boardwalk
Warnings: Low
Status: Log | Complete
Natasha had given Laura a mission, though why Nat couldn’t do it herself Laura didn’t know. Something about ‘this is for both of you’ which she supposed made sense. Maybe Nat was planning something and needed intel.
She peeked her head into the lab. She thought she’d smelled Jemma, but it wasn’t polite to just sneak up on people. “Jemma? Are you in?”
With Cosima working on her dissertation, Jemma found herself at the lab more often than not. Okay… no. She was there a lot anyway but Cosima tended to be better at dragging her out before the dissertation. But school was important and Jemma didn’t mind it. That and she had been asked to speak to the Biochemistry department at the local university and she really didn’t want to think about that.
So. Random work in the lab? Definitely a better way to spend her time. The dreams continued on, once again trouble with the Inhumans, even though it was different in the how. There was a lot in these dreams and they had their own notebook as well.
Hearing someone say her name, the biochemist looked up from the notes she was writing and smiled.
“Laura, hello. Can I help you with something?”
“Actually, I am supposed to help you with something.” Laura came into the lab. She was dressed all in black. A tube top, a skirt over ripped stockings, platform boots. “I have been ordered to make you have fun. So we are going to go dancing.”
“I...what?” As far as Jemma was aware, there was nothing on which she needed help with. She hadn’t put in any requests or… and oh. Look. Dancing. Apparently they were going dancing? “Is that so?” Well that was quite an interesting order to be given, as evidenced by the quirk of a brow she gave the young woman. It wasn’t as if she ever dressed up to go dancing.
Laura eyed her up and down. She was a little taller than Laura, but their figures weren’t too different. She could put Jemma in something of hers, or put something on Agency credit. The latter was appealing, mostly out of pettiness. “That is so. Apparently Natasha feels as though you’ve spent too much time-” Laura made air quotes. “Cooped up like a lab rat wallflower.”
“Ah, well that explains it.” Of course Natasha would decide that she needed to get out of the lab. She did! Sometimes. There just hadn’t been much to pull her away in terms of going out and seeing people. “So what exactly does she have in mind?” Because Jemma could not see herself in clubwear. The one time she did that in the dreams? Under cover. And then running into Hive and having Ward’s face quote Will at her. Yeah. Let’s not repeat that.
“I don’t know what normal people do. I like to dance, but maybe we should do something else if you do not like that.” Laura tilted her head, thinking about it. “The boardwalk?” There were games there, food. People to watch.
“Well at least I am not alone in the not knowing what normal people do thing.” Because really. That was more Daisy’s specialty. Or Cosima’s. For Jemma, she was perfectly content to play (and win) scrabble, or read, or go through science experiments. She could have fun but going out for it? That was something else entirely. “The boardwalk sounds nice though.”
There was always something fun about people watching. It was one way to come up with cover stories for undercover work. People watch and make stories up about them. And then of course the games. It was all strategy and probability….
Okay so what if Jemma was rather competitive at times?
Laura was definitely not normal no matter what her girlfriend did for her. But that was okay. Laura was Laura. “Okay.” She could change, but where was the fun in that? “You should put on something that does not make you look like we are planning on capturing test subjects though.”
She held up a card. “I took Natasha’s card.” For new outfits, food, souvenirs.”
Oh for crying out loud. “Do you honestly believe scientists wear lab jackets, science goggles and gloves wherever we go?” Just to prove her point, Jemma took off the lab jacket she’d been wearing from earlier in the day and quirked a brow. “See. Perfectly normal clothing which is not at all suspicious for going to the boardwalk. I mean really now.”
True, she and Cosima teased Felix and Sarah about similarly held beliefs. But still! Though she was amused by the fact that Laura had taken Natasha’s card.
“Well I mean, she did order us to go out and have fun.” Or well… ordered Laura to drag her out and have fun, but it basically was the same thing.
“All the scientists in my dreams do,” Laura replied, deadpan. At least she’d never seen any of her tormentors in anything but. “Unless they are superheroes, then sometimes they wear spandex. You could probably pull spandex off. One of Natasha’s Catsuits definitely. Maybe later.”
She slipped the card into her pocket. “We’ll take my motorcycle.”
That was fair enough. Jemma was definitely more active in this set of dreams than her usual one. More field operations, going under cover and all of that. She was still in the lab and preferred the lab when she was able to examine things, but she definitely had more to do. Then again, if one only dreamt of scientists in a lab setting… Over thinking it. “Oh really?” Jemma didn’t see herself being able to pull off any sort of superhero get up, let alone one of Natasha’s catsuits, though she doubted that would actually happen.
“Motorbike it is.”
Laura just shrugged, and led the way out of the lab and down to the garage. “I’ve never been there.” She’d only thought about it because of an offhand mention from Nat. Which may have been intentional. “I don’t think it will be hard to find.”
“I haven’t been to the one here, I have been to the one in Blackpool when I was still living in England.” All of a year and a half ago. Either way, figuring out where the boardwalk was? Definitely not all that complicated. And it was a nice place to go just for something to do. Especially at night with the lights against the water.
“Put on a helmet,” Laura told her. “It is the law.” It was the only reason she even bothered with one herself. She could heal from smashing her head across the pavement, but she didn’t want to get pulled over. She supposed ensuring bystanders didn’t get trauma from watching that was probably a good idea too. She handed Jemma a helmet, then got onto the bike and revved the motor. Much to Logan’s disappointment, it wasn’t a harley, more of a Japanese type bike like Kitty had.
True to form it was grey and black.
Yes yes, adhering to the law was a good thing. Besides, while Laura might be able to heal should something happen such as smashing her head on the pavement, Jemma most certainly could not. So she was more than happy to put the helmet on as she wasn’t exactly the type who rode on motorbikes all that often. Once settled, she watched the lights go by until they reached the Boardwalk.
Well. That had been an adventure.
It really was an adventure. Laura found a parking spot, and then started towards the Boardwalk. She sniffed around until she found where the best smells were coming from. “Are you a vegetarian, or do you like meat?”
Sometimes enhanced senses could be beneficial. Such as when trying to locate food. Or so the theory went. Jemma was perfectly content to just wander and come across things as she did and then see if there was something that interested her. But the sooner food was had, the sooner people watching could occur. In theory. “Vegetarian.”
“Okay. I smell kebobs. They should have a vegetarian option.” While she really liked meat, she’d eat the same thing Jemma would, so she wouldn’t feel uncomfortable. She pointed in the direction of the kebab stand. It was also near some of the game areas, and when they got there Laura spotted a few places they could sit and observe.
Natasha never said they had to be active or something.
It wasn’t as if Jemma would be offended if Laura had a meat one, goodness knew that Cosima ate meat. But she did appreciate the consideration all the same. So as she was given a direction for the kebab stand, the biochemist headed towards it, keeping in step with Laura (not hard as neither were exactly tall). And lo and behold, there was indeed a vegetarian option. And close to a bench for people watching.
They were tiny, tiny little spies. Laura ordered them some kebabs with vegetables, noting that they had a kind of fruity dessert kind which looked pretty good and might make for a snack to walk around with. She brought them over to Jemma and sank onto the bench. “This is not so bad.”
Don’t let Natasha know they had turned this into a training session on spying. Somehow Jemma had a feeling that was not what she had in mind when she told Laura to drag her out. Not that either would say it out loud. Taking her own kabab, Jemma smiled in thanks and nodded. “It isn’t. And the temperature isn’t completely dreadful.” Despite the year and a half she’d been in the states, Jemma still was not used to the weather. Of course it was also night, which meant that the temperature had gone down some.
“Today is not a bad day. I’m looking forward to winter. I can wear my favorite jacket.” She really loved that jacket. She had two favorites, actually. Her own leather jacket, and one she’d gotten that used to be Logan’s. “I used to hate winter. Bad memories with snow.”
“I’m sorry.” She knew that Laura tended to just state things as they were, didn’t dwell too much but Jemma did still feel bad for her, and that she would have bad memories with the snow. But at least she had the winter to look forward to in regards to the jacket. “I look forward to it as well. At least it won’t be so bloody hot all the time for the time.” ‘Fall’ could be decent from what she saw, but really it was far too hot and sunny for Jemma’s liking as a whole.
“Does it really rain that much in London?” Laura turned her head as a man walked by wearing beach sandals - and a tuxedo. She raised her eyebrows.
Well, that was certainly something. “Beach wedding?” She knew that was a thing that happened, but from what she saw along the immediate coastline, there were no gatherings that would signify that. Oh well, back to the question. “Well to be fair, comparative to here, it certainly rains a lot more. But yes, it does rain a fair amount in England.”
“Possible.” Laura turned back to Jemma. “Do you miss it? Is it still home to you, or is California home now?” The number of words coming out of her mouth surprised her.
Having finished most of her kabab in the moments of silence and observing, Jemma leaned against the back of the bench as she considered the question. She was, without a doubt, British. Cosima teased her about it all the time.
“I suppose that would depend on your definition of home? I mean, I will always be British, it’s who I am. But I have a life here and as it stands, cannot see myself anywhere else. Which really is rather mad. Anyone with any form of sense would probably leave with all the insanity that happens here. And yet…” she stayed.
“Yet we are not sane enough to leave. I think that home is people.” Laura watched a family go by, frowning very slightly. “As long as we have people that we care about, and that rely on us, this is home. But it is very tempting to leave, sometimes.”
Jemma smiled some as Laura put it into words. “Yes, home is people and that’s why we’re not sane enough to leave. Because those who are home for us? They’re here.” As much as she missed her parents, those who made up home for Jemma now? They were all in the midst of this insanity.
“Even if sometimes we want to slap them.” Laura smiled. There were so many people around them too. They had no idea what either her or Jemma knew, or had faced. They had no idea there were mutants and aliens in their midsts, that the world hung on a thread and it was people like the two of them that kept that thread from being cut.
Oddly, it made Laura feel better. “That woman has a limp. Perhaps she was in sports.”
“Exactly.” Because sometimes it was necessary. It was nice seeing the people who had no idea what was going on. Maddening at their obliviousness on some matters, but the insanity of aliens and constant threats? These were the people they were supposed to protect. They did the thankless job so that the rest of the people around them were able to live their lives and not worry.
Looking to the woman Laura mentioned, Jemma did a quick assessment. “Safe guess. It looks like prolonged use, commonly occurring injury based on gait.” Because of course Jemma could pick that up despite not being a medical doctor. Of course.